Offsetting the shaft of a golf club to increase performance of the club has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,002 and reissue patent RE 38,717, by Bothwell, which is incorporated herein by reference and which are owned by the same entity that owns this specification. The invention described in those patents achieves this effect by offsetting the shaft of the club 21 (FIG. 1) by putting a bend in the shaft. The bend is created as depicted in FIG. 1 by projecting off of a first shaft segment 27 a second shaft segment 25 at a predefined angle 28 and having second shaft segment 25 attach to a third shaft segment 28 at the same predefined angle 26 such that the first and third shaft segments are in parallel alignment. The parallel alignment is illustrated by lines A and B that are extensions of the center axis of first 27 and third 23 shaft segments. Lines A and B being parallel to each other. Although this design was new and revolutionary it still did not provide a an adequate means for integrating it into a set of golf clubs to allow it to be adapted for use by a wide variety of golfers. There also was a need to develop an efficient and economical fabrication process.
The prior art also includes a significant number of putters that rely on some means of offsetting different shaft segments to change the position of the putter's hands. The prior art also has suggested putting the offset in the hosel of the golf club. However, the purpose and of doing this is different. Additionally, offsetting the hosel creates it own problems with the need for redesigning the club head and the manufacture of design specific club heads, which limit the use and complicate the manufacturing process. Thus, what is needed is a means of redesigning golf clubs to maximize the use of the offsetting of the shaft that can easily and quickly integrate into an efficient and effective manufacturing process.